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Oneworld

March 31, 2014

On Monday, US Airways officially joined Oneworld, the alliance founded by American Airlines.

The carrier formely left United Airlines' Star alliance on Sunday and had stopped selling tickets on Star alliance carriers' earlier this year. With its merger with American, US Airways had been transitioning its rewards programs to American and Oneworld.

Oneworld also welcomed TAM Airlines to its alliance. The Brazilian airline also joins the group via a merger. Its merger partner, LAN Airlines, has been a Oneworld member since 2000.

The alliance said that US Airways Dividend Miles Platinum and Gold Preferred members now have Oneworld Sapphire status which entitles them to use Business Class or frequent flyer lounges of any oneworld alliance partner and can check-in at Business Class desks whenever they depart on a oneworld alliance partner flight, regardless of their ticket.

March 07, 2013

LATAM Airlines announced on Thursday that it will join the Oneworld Alliance, which includes American Airlines.

The South American carrier, which was created from the merger of LAN Airlines and TAM Airlines last year, said it chose Oneworld for its 950 destinations, adding the alliance will increase access to South America.

“We evaluated all the existing possibilities and chose the alliance that
offers the best benefits to our passengers, in addition to the best
connectivity and products, as well as the greater synergies for LATAM
Airlines Group. We are very happy with the decision” said Enrique Cueto,
CEO, LATAM Airlines Group.

LAN Airlines is already part of Oneworld, however, its merger partner TAM Airlines, was a member of United Airlines' Star Alliance. TAM will withdraw from Star Alliance during the second quarter of 2014, the carrier said.

December 17, 2012

In a move to bolster its Latin America and South America presence, American Airlines announced on Monday that it has signed codeshare agreements with LATAM Group's TAM Airlines and LAN Colombia.

The Fort Worth-based carrier added that it will add a new Dallas/Fort Worth to Bogota, Colombia route in late 2013 and new service from Miami to Curitiba and Porto Alegre, Brazil.

"As we continue to expand our presence in Latin America, the new routes to Brazil and Colombia are a direct response to the increasing customer demand for travel between the U.S. and Latin America," said American's chief commercial officer Virasb Vahidi.

American previously had a codeshare agreement with LAN as the airline is part of its Oneworld alliance but did not have a codeshare agreement with TAM. LAN and TAM completed their merger to create LATAM earlier this year.

November 19, 2012

From personal experience I know that residents of Wichita, Kan., particularly business people, have been wishing and hoping and praying for Southwest Airlines to serve the self-proclaimed Air Capital of the known universe for a very, very long time.

“Folks, the wait is over,” said Bob Montgomery, Southwest’s vice president for airport affairs, during the news conference, which included state and local dignitaries.

The five flights will utilize 143-seat Boeing 737s to Dallas and Chicago, Southwest officials said, and a 137-seat 737 to Las Vegas. One-way rates will range between $94 and $178 to each destination.

The addition of Southwest is a boon to the city’s economic development and tourism efforts, Mayor Carl Brewer and Sedgwick County Commission Chairman Tim Norton said following the announcement.

“As far back as 1980, when I moved here with Target, affordable, dependable air service has been a need of this community,” Norton said. “We’ve had air service, but when I flew to Denver years ago and the cost was so prohibitive that we drove to Kansas City to fly, that’s a dynamic we knew we had to change.

“And in talking with Pizza Hut, Rent-A-Center, the companies that left here, part of the conversation was that airfares are too high here for companies that travel a lot. Fast forward to today, and a dependable, affordable carrier that changes the dynamic of our air travel, our businesses and certainly our community.”

Wichita has long been a spoke in a number of airlines systems and leisure travelers booking well in advance could get pretty good fares most of the time. But for business people travelling on short notice the fares were typicaly very high, a situation that has only gotten worse with airline economics and mergers. A 21-day advance purchase round trip fare on American Airlines from Wichita to Dallas-Fort Worth is $629.60 today

Southwest officials indicated they may initially take advantage of subsidies that Wichita and the state of Kansas had get low cost Air Tran service to Atlanta, which is going away. But they also said there Wichita routes would not be based on receiving a subsidy.

“We are here with no conditions, no demands," Montgomery said. “We ask that y’all fly Southwest, because this is a tough business.”

October 09, 2012

British Airways chief executive Willie Walsh reaffirmed his carrier's willingness to take an equity stake in American Airlines if it helps the bankrupt carrier.

In an interview with The Associated Press on Monday, Walsh said his company was prepared to purchase a minority stake, if American's chief executive Tom Horton asks.

AP reporter Scott Mayerowitz writes:

"If American asks for it, I think that would be a big step," said Willie Walsh, CEO of International Consolidated Airlines Group, the parent of British Airways and Iberia. He noted that American doesn’t necessarily need the money but his company would invest to help cement their existing partnership.

"We think an investment in a restructured American will be a good investment. That’s why we said we’d be very happy to look at it if the opportunity presented itself and if Tom welcomed it," Walsh said. Foreign investors are prohibited from owning more than 25 percent of a U.S. airline.

"We’ve never put a figure on it but I can’t see anything above 10 percent to be honest with you," Walsh said. "But again I’m speculating because we haven’t done any formal analysis. But we’re not looking for a significant minority stake."

October 08, 2012

Qatar Airways will join American Airlines' Oneworld alliance, the carriers announced on Monday.

It will be the second Middle Eastern carrier in the alliance, along with Royal Jordanian. Qatar Airways serves 120 destinations in 70 countries, increasing the number of destinations available to Oneworld's international travelers, the alliance said.

"Adding Qatar Airways will significantly improve our connectivity between many of the destinations that are most important to those customers, so today's agreement with Qatar Airways will enable us to offer even more value," said American chief executive Tom Horton in a statement.

It will take 12 to 18 months for Qatar to become a full-member of Oneworld, the alliance said.

Qatar Airways does not currently serve American's hub at Dallas/Fort Worth Airport. Its competitor, Emirates Airways, offers non-stop service from DFW to Dubai and recently signed an alliance agreement with Oneworld member Qantas Airways.

We’ve been watching with dismay the downward spiral of American Airlines.

This once-great carrier is hardly recognizable any more. It is perplexing to us how a management team that got its training under Robert Crandall and helped create such a great carrier could have gone so wrong.

It's a well written, point-by-point critique of American's strategic errors under Crandall's successors. And it closes with a vote of no confidence in CEO Tom Horton's leadership.

Horton is firm that American won’t merge while in Chapter 11 and it’s pretty clear he doesn’t want to merge at all.

We have no confidence in Horton at the helm, nor in American’s management. If American is to survive, they have to go.

September 21, 2012

A message sent by Laura Glading, president of the Association of Professional Flight Attendants, to the union's membership Friday about response to the buy out program offered by American Airlines:

As you know, bidding for the VEOP closed late last night. A total of 2,205 flight attendants chose to take advantage of the voluntary early out.

The tremendous response from those electing to leave the company with the $40,000 that accompanies their exit will benefit the entire membership. In the coming year, flight attendants will be moving up the seniority list and off reserve. And not only will furloughs now be avoided completely, but the VEOP participants will finally be able to enjoy a well-deserved retirement.

Since 1999 when I first started negotiating for APFA, I pushed the company for a dignified path to retirement for our most senior members. And in 2008 as President, it became a top priority for the negotiating team and me. Many of you will remember how long and hard we fought for an early out package worthy of our membership. Too many flight attendants have been living in career limbo for too long.

I am happy these 2,205 will now have the security they need to enter the next chapter of their lives. Thank you for your patience!

Please join me in congratulating our 2,205 colleagues. We thank you and we wish you only the best.

A judge on Thursday said AMR Corp. (AAMRQ) can pay the legal and professional fees incurred by a group of hedge funds negotiating to provide financing for the American Airlines parent in the event it doesn't merge with another airline upon exiting bankruptcy.

Judge Sean H. Lane of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan gave AMR the right to pay the fees of the bondholder group and many other parties in AMR's case, but was careful to tell the company that it's expected to keep other financing options open.

"It's not to the exclusion of any other parties," Judge Lane said of the negotiations. Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP's Harvey Miller, AMR's lead bankruptcy lawyer, confirmed that the talks aren't exclusive.

Last month, AMR requested to pay the fees and disclosed it is in talks with the hedge funds about financing that would help the company exit bankruptcy. The investors, who hold about $900 million in several types of AMR bonds, are negotiating exit financing in the $1 billion to $2 billion range, sources familiar with the talks said last month. The bondholders would also backstop the offering, sources said. Getting fees paid by the estate is common for parties in bankruptcy, as long as they make a "substantial contribution" in the case.